September 2016 Cyber Attacks Statistics

It’s time to publish the statistics derived from the September Cyber Attacks Timelines (part I and part II). After several troubled months, this one has seen a considerable reduction of events.

The Daily Trend of Attacks shows a strong peak at the very first beginning of the month, followed by a considerable lower level for the rest of the period, with the partial exception of the 22nd.

Cyber crime ranks on top of the Motivations Behind Attacks chart with 80.3% (was 72.4% in August). Hacktivism drops to 11.3% from 13.8% of August). Cyber Espionage drops also to 4.2% from 9.5%, whereas Cyber Warfare is essentially stable (4.2% vs 4,3%).

For the fourth month in a row, account hijackings rank on top of the known Attack Vectors with 15.5% (was 18.1% in August). DDoS ranks at number two with 11.3% (was 12.1% in August), ahead of SQLi (7.0%).

As usual, the Distribution of Targets is led by industry with 26.8% (was 27.6% in August), followed by Organizations and Governments (both of them at 11.3%, were respectively 9.5% and 15.5% in August). Single Individuals (7.0%) follow the trail ahead of the other categories.

Software Companies rank on top of the Industry Drill Down chart with 15.8%, ahead of all other categories.

Non-profit organizations lead the chart of the Organization Drill Down with 37.5%.

As always, bear in mind that the sample refers exclusively to the attacks included in my timelines, aiming to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.

If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and now 2015 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics.

Of course follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates, and feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).